Automatic drainage attachment for lubricators.



No. 856,152. PATENTED JUNE A, 1907.

- J. c. E'UEEAED. AUTOMATIC DRAINAGE ATTACHMENT EOE LUBEIGAToEs.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.24,1906.

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/NVE/vof? Jn SEP H E. HUBBAHD,

A TTOHNEYS WIT/VES ES UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIOE.

AUTOMATIC DRAINAGE ATTACHMENT FOR LUBRICATORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 4, 1907.

Application med December 24,1906. Serial No- 349.244.

'T0 a/ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that l, JOSEPH CHEvEs HUB- BARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Georgetown, in the county of Georgetown and State of South Carolina, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Automatic Drainage Attachments' for Lubricators, of which the following is a speciiication.

My invention is in the nature of an automatic drainage attachment for lubricators of that class in which a subjacent body of water is beneath the oil and the oil is fed through the water a drop ata time. Such lubricators are commonly known as sight feedH and they are usually supplied with a manually operated drainage cock.

lVhen an engine having such lubricators is shut down over night, or at any other time, it is always necessary in freezing weather to drain the water out of the lubricators to prevent them from freezing and bursting, which destroys the lubricator. It frequently happens that the engineer will forget, or the weather will turn cold suddenly during the night and the lubricators will then freeze, burst and be destroyed.

The object of my invention is to prevent this by an absolutelyautomatic draina e device which comes into action immediate y when the lubricator is out of service and thus renders the drainage independent of the memory and care of the engineer.

In another application for a patent I have shown an automatic drainage attachment so connected by a pipe with the boiler steam, that the lubricator would be automatically drained whenever the steam .goes down in the boiler and the pressure falls to a predetermined point. In large plants, however, there are many4 instances where the boiler pressure is maintained all night, with only a part of the engines thrown out of service, and in such case there would be no means for draining the lubricators of the engines out of service.

My present invention is designed to provide an automatic drainage attachment for each lubricator, which is entirely independent of any separate connection with the boiler and comes into action by the mere act of disuse of thelubricator, or shutting down of the engine, and it consists in the novel construction and arrangement of the device which I will now proceed to describe with reference to the drawings, in which Figure 1 is a sectional view of the lower part of a lubricator with my attachment applied, the parts being in the draining position. Fig. la is a similar view of the same parts in the position for filling with oil. Fig. 1b is a similar view .of the same parts in the working position when steam pressure is on the lubricator and Fig. 2 is a cross section on line 2--2 of Fig. 1. y

A represents the lubricator reservoir in the bottom of which is contained the body of water and above which water is the lighter oil. l

B is a case in the4 form of a pendent tube having an enlarged upper end l) which is eX- ternally threaded and screwed into the bottom of the lubricator.

C is a movable piston of two diameters, the upper and larger one of which fits within the cylindrical bore of the enlarged part b of the tube B and the lower and smaller part of which iits within the tube B. The edges of the upper and larger part of the piston are suitably packed to form a steam tight joint. A central longitudinal hole is formed through this piston which affords a drainage outlet and this hole is arranged to be closed by a valve d. This valve is carried on to the top of a vertical stem D whose'mjddle portion is larger than its ends and which middle portion is made square or with flat sides and with one or more ratchet teeth d3 in one side.

The upper end of stem D slides freely through and is guided in two cross bars c c attached to the piston C and between the upper cross bar c and the valve is disposed a spiral spring d which tends to raise and open the valve by throwing it inwardly into the lubricator.

Below the piston O is arranged a heavier and stronger spiral spring E which bears at its upper end against the bottom of the pisi ton and at its lower end is seated against an inwardly projecting flange a turned out of the body of the tube B. This spring tends to throw the piston inwardly.

Just beloyiT the ilange a there is arranged in transverse position a locking catch F designed to cooperate with the ratchet teeth cl3 of the stem and hold the stem down against the tension of the spring above. This locking catch is formed as a square yoke, see Fig. 2, which closely iits to the flat sides of the stem D and has at one end a pin f that passes through the wall of the tube B .and around the pin, be-

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tween the yoke and inner surface of the tube, is wound a spiral spring f The side of the yoke opposite the pin Af is beveled. to form a locking edge that fits the ratchet teeth d3 in' the stem and the tension of spring f serves to force this locking edge of the yoke away from the stem, while the square iit of the yoke and stem prevents the stem from ever turning its teeth away from the locking edge of the yoke. lAll these parts form the catch F whose end protrudes through the side of the tube so that it may be manipulated by the thumb.

The lower end of the stem is guided through a cross bar G whose ends are screwed into an internalthread at the lower end of the tube B, or is otherwise connected thereto .in any suitable way.

On the extreme lower end of the stem D is a handle H and. between this handle and the bottom of the tube is a screw threaded portion carrying two jam nuts Z2 which strike against the cross bar G and act as an adjustable stop to limit the inward or opening movement of the valve d.

The operation of my drainage device is as follows: Vhen the lubricator is to be filled the handle II is seized and pulled down, as in Fig. la, in which the valve d seats itself tightly on the piston and closes the central hole through the same. vWhile still holding the handle II down, the catch F is forced inwardly by the thumb and made to engage one of the teeth (Z3 and so hold down the stem and valve d to its closed position. As the spring f around the pin of the catch is a relatively weak one, as compared with the springs above, the superior tension of the springs above will pull the stem up against the locked catch with such a tension that the spring f cannot overcome the frictional engagement, to release the catch while illing the lubricator with oil. Now when the engine is put in service and the steam pressure comes on the lubricator, the piston C and valve d will both move down together, the piston compressing the heavy spring E and as the valve d and stem D descend the teeth d3 of the valve stem move away from the catch F and the force of the light catch spring f then is suiicient to throw the catch F outwardly as in dotted lines in Fig. 1a and full lines in Fig. 1D so that the teeth and catch are out of range of engagement. In this position, Fig. 1b, the lubricator drainage devi ces remain as long as the steam pressure is on the lubricators and the engine working, the valve being held tightly closed by the steam pressure. l/Vhen, however, the pressure is taken ofi the lubricator by shutting down the engine, instantly the piston C rises from the expansion of spring E and the valve d not only partakes of this movement but owing to the expansion of its spring d it rises with a secondary movement that removes it from its seat on piston C and opensthe central channelway through the piston, as seen in Fig. 1. In this position the water and oil drain out through the central opening in piston C and down through the openings in the cross bar G at the lower end of the tube B.

In Fig. 1 I have sho wn at I a supplemental drainage cock which may be independently used to drain the lubricvator if desired, but which I do not claim as new.

My attachment is of very simple construction and easy to attach to any make of lubricator, as it is simply screwed into the bottom of the lubricator-body or oil chamber and has no other connection with either the lubricator, steam pipe, or other parts and requires no material alteration of or injury to the lubricator, being practically universal in its application;

The valve and piston are made with ground joints so that it is impossible for it to leak, but if desired a rubber valve seat may be used.

The device perfectly performs its duties as an automatic drainage device whenever the lubricator is out of service and its construction is such that it may be filled with oil and left in the-position shown in Fig. l@L indefinitely, when there is no steam on the boiler and no pressure in the lubricator.

In carrying out my invention I do not coniine myself to the speciiic construction and arrangement oi parts shown, as these may be varied in details without departing from my invention.

I. claim 1. An automatic drainage attachment, comprising a tubular case, a piston within. the case having a passageway through it, a spring acting against the piston for forcing it inwardly, a valve controlling the passageway in the piston, a spring acting upon this valve to force it inwardly to open the same, and a locking catch for holding this valve closed, said locking catch being arranged to be released by the outward movement of the piston.

2. An automatic drainage attachment, comprisinfr a two-diameter tubular case having an enlarged inner end, a two-diameter piston fitting the case and having a passageway through it, a spring acting against the piston for forcingit inwardly, a valve controlling the passageway in the piston, a spring acting upon this valve to force it inwardly to open the same, and a locking catch for holding this valve closed, said locking catch being arranged to be released by the outward movement of the piston.

3. An automatic drainage attachment, comprising a tubular case, a piston within the case having a passageway through it, a valve stem having a valve on its inner end controlling said passageway and extending entirely through the case and having a stop projection on it limiting the inward move- IOO ment of the valve, a spring between the piston and case for forcing the piston inwardly, a weaker spring between the valve and piston for Jforcing the valve inwardly, and a locking catch for locking the valve closed, said locking catch being released by the outward movement of the piston.

4. An automatic drainage attachment, comprising a tubular case, a piston within the case having a passageway through it, a valve stem having a valve on its inner end controlling said passageway and extending entirely through the case and having a handle on the outside, a spring forcing the piston inwardly, a separate spring forcing the valve inwardly, and a locking catch for holding the valve closed, said locking catch being arranged to be released by the outward movement of the piston.

5. In an automatic drainage attachment having a movable piston and a central valve in the same with lindependent springs; the locking and releasing device for the valve stem, consisting of one or more locking projections on the valve stem, a transverse locking catch Jfor the same and a spring for the locking catch arranged to release the locking catch from the valve stem.

G. In an automatic drainage attachment having a movable piston and a central valve in the same with independent springs; the locking and releasing device Jfor the valve,

consisting of a flat sided valve stem with one 'lor more teeth on its side, and a transverse locking catch consisting of a yoke embracing the attened sides of the valve stem and eX- tending through the side wall of the caseand a spring for forcing the catch outwardly.

T In an automatic drainage attachment having a movable piston and acentral valve on the same with independent springs; the locking and releasing device for the valve, consisting of a ilats1ded valve stern with one or more teeth on its side, and a transverse locking catch consisting of a yoke embracing the ilattened sides of the valve stem and eX- tending through the side wall of the case, a

pin on the opposite side of the yoke also eX- tending through the case and a spring on said pin arranged between the yoke and case.

8. An automatic drainage attachment, comprising a case, a perforated piston with valve for the same, a spring interposed between the valve and piston, a spring interposed between the piston and case, a valve stem with one or more locking teeth, a transverse locking catch, and a stop and handle on l the valve stem outside ofthe case. JOSEPH CHEVES HUBBARD.

l/Vitnesses J. R. SIAN, Jr., F. L. SIAN. 

